occasional reflections on culture & politics
We are living in a world with many dangers, threats and uncertainties. And yet, panic, fear or depression would be the wrong answer. The only thing that really helps anyone is cautious optimism. You may ask, how can you be optimistic? It is a legitimate question. On the surface, I seem to be worried about… Continue reading #202: Fear Not: Why We Need to be Optimistic About the Future
As I am sitting in my warm house, I am watching a squirrel eat some of the food I originally put out for the birds. There is not just one squirrel, there are five. Every attempt at “squirrel-proofing” the feeder has failed. They are smart animals. I had to hang up a separate feeder somewhere… Continue reading #200: The Nature Around Us
I. When we speak (or write), does our positionality in this world matter? I recently stumbled upon a video in which someone expressed their ire against people starting a variation of a sentence like “I am speaking as an x person.” The position here – if I may simplify it as follows – is instructive:… Continue reading #199: Why Positionality Matters
In these depressing times, we seem to always be on the brink of the end of the world, the end of democracy, the end of a livable climate, the end of free speech, sanity, respect, fairness, justice, nuance, context, humanity, whatever – you name it. There is either too much or too little of wokeness… Continue reading #197: We Have Good Reasons for Hope
Queen Elizabeth II died two days ago, and her loss was felt around the world. She has always been committed to her duty to represent the United Kingdom and the Commonwealth, transcending that which remained of the Empire into a time of decolonization, new partnerships, a more European Britain, and eventually, sadly, Brexit. She lived… Continue reading #193: De Mortuis Nil Nisi Bene: We Owe Respect to the Dead
Aren’t we focused a bit too much on identity lately, or rather, on a very narrow definition of it? What does identity even mean? Who we are always depends on several factors, only part of which is controllable by ourselves. We may want to be seen a certain way, but we cannot change how others… Continue reading #182: Reflections on Identity, Purpose, and the Active Life
I have never been a cultural pessimist, nor have I ever been a Luddite. As soon as I was able to, I learned to use a computer in the pre-internet age (I still remember 5 ¼ inch disks and even data tapes), and as soon as the internet became available for private citizens, not just… Continue reading #181: Are We too Stupid for the Internet?
The world can be a depressing place. Anyone who ever thought about just staying in bed a little longer in the morning, about dulling their senses before going to bed, just to avoid hearing and thinking about what is going on in the world will probably understand. It is safe to assume that once we… Continue reading #171: Writing as Witnessing
You can hardly turn on the news today without being faced with manifestations of every possible disaster known to humankind: war, genocide, disease, famine, climate change, etc. Death and its precursors are all around us. How can you stay sane in such a world? How can we ever tolerate the presence of so much death… Continue reading #164: The Answer to Death is Life
I am currently – among other things – working on editing my fifth poetry volume. It will largely consist of my absolutely insane mega-poem “Pastiche”, a 20000-long act of utter lunacy. As I am going over its meandering bouts of madness, I come across parts written in English, French, Latin, Greek, German, etc. – some… Continue reading #162: Seize the Day
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